SPCA probes state of stable in Lower Nazareth

Charges against the owner, of Bethlehem, may be filed in weeks.

Armed with a search warrant, officers from the Monroe County and Philadelphia humane societies spent hours Tuesday afternoon examining conditions and animals at a Lower Nazareth Township stable.

More than 35 horses, goats and steers are on Joe Mayer's property, tucked between cornfields on Hollo Road off Route 248, and some of them showed signs of neglect, said Barbara Balsama, a humane society police officer from the Monroe County Branch of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

No one from the Northampton County Humane Society participated in the search.

Balsama looked at one horse and said, "You can see the ribs."

"These horses are definitely underweight," she said.

Balsama said she expected to file criminal charges in a few weeks after her investigation is completed. She said the charges could be cruelty to animals, unsanitary confinement of animals, and lack of food and water.

Humane Society officials did not remove an animal

but documented the conditions.

Attempts to contact Mayer were unsuccessful.

Mayer has had similar problems before.

In 2001, SPCA officials seized 31 animals and said many were severely underweight and living in substandard conditions without adequate food and water.

At the time, Mayer, a part-time truck driver who lives in Bethlehem, said the SPCA was overzealous.

Mayer was charged with 39 counts of cruelty to animals. Following a lengthy hearing, District Justice Joseph Barner ruled Mayer was guilty on 24 counts, but he ruled Mayer would not have to forfeit the animals that were seized.

Mayer was fined $1,200 and ordered to reimburse the SPCA for its costs in caring for the animals.

He has owned the stable for more than 20 years and takes the animals to fairs and carnivals in the region.